Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

stickguy

Definitely an annoyance but at least it’s a lease.

Surprised to see so much rust under there though, on the bolts and brackets.

tjc78

Brutal @nyccarguy

Always something!

qbrozen

kyfdx said:

qbrozen said:

59% RV on the 48/10k.
Not worth making the change.

That is this month's number. Last month was 61%

Plus if you are flipping it, you save $1195

I don't think I'll mess with it. Even if true, it is $25/mo less to extend a year. Sure, if I can and do flip, I'd make an extra $1k. But if CCAP starts blocking sales and/or the market changes drastically very soon, now I've got a 4-yr lease on my hands. I'm just not feeling like it is worth it. Am I crazy?

tjc78

@qbrozen said:
I don't think I'll mess with it. Even if true, it is $25/mo less to extend a year. Sure, if I can and do flip, I'd make an extra $1k. But if CCAP starts blocking sales and/or the market changes drastically very soon, now I've got a 4-yr lease on my hands. I'm just not feeling like it is worth it. Am I crazy?

I would stay put at the terms you are at. That thing is gone by Christmas anyway. You are still going to profit a nice sum.

stickguy

Santa Cruz pricing finally came out. Not too bad but can’t see options yet. But going to be at least mid-upper 30s for the turbo engine. Upper 20s for a mid level FWD with the base 2.5 engine. That won’t be particularly zippy.

Still want to see one but I don’t think it will sell nearly as well as the Maverick.

28firefighter

@qbrozen said:
I don't think I'll mess with it. Even if true, it is $25/mo less to extend a year. Sure, if I can and do flip, I'd make an extra $1k. But if CCAP starts blocking sales and/or the market changes drastically very soon, now I've got a 4-yr lease on my hands. I'm just not feeling like it is worth it. Am I crazy?

No. Stay as-is.

roadburner

@oldfarmer50 said:
The boss told us yesterday that we now require a one week minimum rental if you want a car. There’s also a 21 day limit on rentals. The price for even a mundane small car hovers around $150/day. He has no idea when we’ll be getting much new supply.

Each off airport office can set their own policy but the shortest time period I’ve seen is 3 days in a little town in VT.

He also mentioned that the other major players have almost nothing left to rent.

Madness writ large.

On 6/30 I rented a Ram Classic from Enterprise to bring my new TV home. It was $149.75 for one day.

stickguy

Q, no way I would take out a longer lease on a car you don’t actually want in the first place!

stickguy

Best deal at Hertz by me is still the barge transit van. Much cheaper than a mini car. I would get that even if I just needed a normal car for a few days.

Rental car companies really failed at business planning. Along with the car makers like Ford of course.

Michaell

stickguy said:

Santa Cruz pricing finally came out. Not too bad but can’t see options yet. But going to be at least mid-upper 30s for the turbo engine. Upper 20s for a mid level FWD with the base 2.5 engine. That won’t be particularly zippy.

Still want to see one but I don’t think it will sell nearly as well as the Maverick.

Not surprising, but I suppose Hyundai doesn't see the Maverick as a competitor, even though the market will.

I think the Santa Cruz will be more "car-like", both in the driving dynamics and with the amount of tech and features. Will that make it worth the extra money? Only time will tell.

explorerx4

You can rent a pickup truck at Lowes for $20 plus some hourly fee after the first hour.

tjc78

@explorerx4 said:
You can rent a pickup truck at Lowes for $20 plus some hourly fee after the first hour.

HD too… but every single time I’ve tried to get it totally booked.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

kyfdx said:

qbrozen said:

59% RV on the 48/10k.
Not worth making the change.

That is this month's number. Last month was 61%

Plus if you are flipping it, you save $1195

I don't think I'll mess with it. Even if true, it is $25/mo less to extend a year. Sure, if I can and do flip, I'd make an extra $1k. But if CCAP starts blocking sales and/or the market changes drastically very soon, now I've got a 4-yr lease on my hands. I'm just not feeling like it is worth it. Am I crazy?

No, I get it. I just thought this was a definite flip.

corvette

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=589785390&listingTypes=USED&startYear=2010&makeCode1=FORD&modelCode1=RANGER&sem=1&LNX=DRMEDSOCFBPROBA&fbclid=IwAR2VdFM3c257hj7sxnsXMPHdWapNvoJmGfWjf0O7q_ZFK6DXuO2hH0KFxj4

Low miles, but I don’t think these have the cult following to command that price.

henryn

roadburner said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

The boss told us yesterday that we now require a one week minimum rental if you want a car. There’s also a 21 day limit on rentals. The price for even a mundane small car hovers around $150/day. He has no idea when we’ll be getting much new supply.

Each off airport office can set their own policy but the shortest time period I’ve seen is 3 days in a little town in VT.

He also mentioned that the other major players have almost nothing left to rent.

Madness writ large.

On 6/30 I rented a Ram Classic from Enterprise to bring my new TV home. It was $149.75 for one day.

I don't know about where you are, but here in the greater Houston area, there are people who will pickup and deliver furniture, TVs, appliances, etc. starting at around $50.

explorerx4

@corvette,
I need an inhaler after seeing that ad.

henryn

corvette said:

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=589785390&listingTypes=USED&startYear=2010&makeCode1=FORD&modelCode1=RANGER&sem=1&LNX=DRMEDSOCFBPROBA&fbclid=IwAR2VdFM3c257hj7sxnsXMPHdWapNvoJmGfWjf0O7q_ZFK6DXuO2hH0KFxj4

Low miles, but I don’t think these have the cult following to command that price.

Even in this present insanity, that represents a new level of .... I guess absurdity is a good word.

qbrozen

@kyfdx said:
No, I get it. I just thought this was a definite flip.

Most likely. But things keep changing so fast. I think CCAP may be the last holdout at this point for stopping 3rd-party buyouts.

stickguy

Ambitious pricing. But nice truck.

roadburner

@henryn said:
I don't know about where you are, but here in the greater Houston area, there are people who will pickup and deliver furniture, TVs, appliances, etc. starting at around $50.

I would have let Best Buy deliver it if I wasn’t willing to pick it up myself.

stickguy

Michaell said:

stickguy said:

Santa Cruz pricing finally came out. Not too bad but can’t see options yet. But going to be at least mid-upper 30s for the turbo engine. Upper 20s for a mid level FWD with the base 2.5 engine. That won’t be particularly zippy.

Still want to see one but I don’t think it will sell nearly as well as the Maverick.

Not surprising, but I suppose Hyundai doesn't see the Maverick as a competitor, even though the market will.

I think the Santa Cruz will be more "car-like", both in the driving dynamics and with the amount of tech and features. Will that make it worth the extra money? Only time will tell.

it is not actually that much more really. Not the base model at least. The SE Hyundai is equipped at least as well as an XLT Maverick. So that price is pretty close. and a Turbo SEL Premium is going to be pretty close to a loaded Lariat 2.0.

maybe across the board the Cruz is $1,000-$2,000 more on sticker?

nyccarguy

stickguy said:

Definitely an annoyance but at least it’s a lease.

Surprised to see so much rust under there though, on the bolts and brackets.

Yes. I agree. The truck isn't even 2 years old.

au1994

explorerx4 said:

You can rent a pickup truck at Lowes for $20 plus some hourly fee after the first hour.

It may be a store by store thing but the one I usually use requires you to have bought something from the store to rent a truck now. Didn’t used to be the case as I did it once to pick up a piece of furniture.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

Definitely an annoyance but at least it’s a lease.

Surprised to see so much rust under there though, on the bolts and brackets.

The other guy’s insurance should pay for that. New bumper, new hitch maybe some paint.

I’m surprised about the rust too. I didn’t figure they put down much salt in NYC through.

oldfarmer50

roadburner said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

The boss told us yesterday that we now require a one week minimum rental if you want a car. There’s also a 21 day limit on rentals. The price for even a mundane small car hovers around $150/day. He has no idea when we’ll be getting much new supply.

Each off airport office can set their own policy but the shortest time period I’ve seen is 3 days in a little town in VT.

He also mentioned that the other major players have almost nothing left to rent.

Madness writ large.

On 6/30 I rented a Ram Classic from Enterprise to bring my new TV home. It was $149.75 for one day.

From what I’m being told you were lucky to get a one day rental that cheap. Did you use some business account? They seem to be more flexible for business customers. Maybe KY has a better supply.

stickguy

a year and a half ago when my daughter had to move out of the house she shared with her BF unexpectedly, we needed a truck on short notice. Lowes was really close so I just went over there and thankfully they had one available. No problem that we weren't buying anything (though I did put the truck on my Lowes card). we got it back within the allowable timeframe. No miles charge and I think it cost me about $15? probably plus something for required insurance.

you can also get one from Uhaul pretty cheap but will pay for all the miles.

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

roadburner said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

The boss told us yesterday that we now require a one week minimum rental if you want a car. There’s also a 21 day limit on rentals. The price for even a mundane small car hovers around $150/day. He has no idea when we’ll be getting much new supply.

Each off airport office can set their own policy but the shortest time period I’ve seen is 3 days in a little town in VT.

He also mentioned that the other major players have almost nothing left to rent.

Madness writ large.

On 6/30 I rented a Ram Classic from Enterprise to bring my new TV home. It was $149.75 for one day.

I don't know about where you are, but here in the greater Houston area, there are people who will pickup and deliver furniture, TVs, appliances, etc. starting at around $50.

Depending on where you are in NYS there are people who will pick up and deliver bodies for $50.

I would think anyone who moves furniture for a living must own their own truck, although the two guy who delivered my dryer did it for $65 in an Enterprise box truck.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

Best deal at Hertz by me is still the barge transit van. Much cheaper than a mini car. I would get that even if I just needed a normal car for a few days.

Rental car companies really failed at business planning. Along with the car makers like Ford of course.

You could say the same of any business that panicked and laid off all their employees and is now scrambling to get them back.

oldfarmer50

corvette said:

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=589785390&listingTypes=USED&startYear=2010&makeCode1=FORD&modelCode1=RANGER&sem=1&LNX=DRMEDSOCFBPROBA&fbclid=IwAR2VdFM3c257hj7sxnsXMPHdWapNvoJmGfWjf0O7q_ZFK6DXuO2hH0KFxj4

Low miles, but I don’t think these have the cult following to command that price.

A guy at work has a 2005 in the same color with 50k miles that he said is worth $7500. I thought he was exaggerating until I looked at the ads and that was the price for comparables with twice the mileage.

stickguy

Video on the whole 3rd party sales issue. They get most everything but missed 2 key points. One is the need to pay sales tax, eating into profits. The other is, you can still walk in and sell at any time. Just have to go to a branded dealer. So can at least play those off each other!

The old guy makes the good point, which is this is a fluke situation that likely won’t last long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAkWpU1ekf8

roadburner

@oldfarmer50 said:
From what I’m being told you were lucky to get a one day rental that cheap. Did you use some business account? They seem to be more flexible for business customers. Maybe KY has a better supply.

No discounts the best I can tell. I had reserved a Colorado but one look told me the TV wouldn’t fit. Luckily they also had the Ram in their inventory.

xwesx

28firefighter said:

No. Stay as-is.

That was rhetorical. We all know he's crazy, and that's a non-issue around here!

qbrozen

stickguy said:

Video on the whole 3rd party sales issue. They get most everything but missed 2 key points. One is the need to pay sales tax, eating into profits. The other is, you can still walk in and sell at any time. Just have to go to a branded dealer. So can at least play those off each other!

The old guy makes the good point, which is this is a fluke situation that likely won’t last long.

well of course it won't last. Manufacturers certainly want to sell more new cars rather than have other people reselling the same car for more money.

stickguy

The positive equity is what won’t last. They were fine with people buying them out at inflated residuals!

henryn

Re: residual values and selling to Carvana, etc.

The playing field is always tilted against the consumer. If you didn’t already know this, you need to wake up and smell the coffee. Just a quick for instance, let’s take wholesale oil prices versus retail gasoline prices. The price of oil goes up, the price at the pump goes up immediately. It will take weeks, at a minimum, for that oil to be refined and make it’s way to the gas station. So every one along the chain makes an extra profit. “It’s going to cost us more to replace this product, so we’re entitled to charge more for the present supply even though we didn’t pay more.”

When wholesale oil prices go down, the price of gas will remain high for quite a while. “We paid more for this, so you have to pay more. When the lower cost oil / gas makes it’s way here to the pump, then we will lower prices.”

qbrozen

stickguy said:

The positive equity is what won’t last. They were fine with people buying them out at inflated residuals!

right. when supply increases, prices decrease, even on used. The manufacturers are the only ones not making money on this fluctuation right now. So they want to get their production up as fast as possible.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

The positive equity is what won’t last. They were fine with people buying them out at inflated residuals!

right. when supply increases, prices decrease, even on used. The manufacturers are the only ones not making money on this fluctuation right now. So they want to get their production up as fast as possible.

Factory to dealer incentives have really gone away over the last couple of months, so they are saving some money

henryn

kyfdx said:

qbrozen said:

stickguy said:

The positive equity is what won’t last. They were fine with people buying them out at inflated residuals!

right. when supply increases, prices decrease, even on used. The manufacturers are the only ones not making money on this fluctuation right now. So they want to get their production up as fast as possible.

Factory to dealer incentives have really gone away over the last couple of months, so they are saving some money

It turns out to be not quite like that. Ford was making around $10k (average) on every F150 they sold. More on the higher trim models, less on the lower trims, but averaging out to around $10k. They would offer up to $5k in incentives, thus still making a $5k profit per truck. But now, with no trucks to sell, they are making zero profit. That does not compute out to "saving money", not by my calculations.

tjc78

Higher profit per unit right now I’m sure, but not how their business model works.

Also … think of how the captive finance companies are taking a beating too.

henryn

https://www.axios.com/used-car-price-market-35fe992e-888c-46c8-9177-8ef296d807ed.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiospm&stream=top

The average price of a used car fell slightly in June, suggesting that the white-hot market for these vehicles may finally be cooling off.

By the numbers: The average price of a used car in the wholesale market in June fell 1.3% from May levels, as measured by the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index. This was the first month-to-month decline since December.

• "After all, about 1 percentage point of the total 3.8% increase in the level of the core consumer price index over the past 12 months came from the surge in prices of used cars and trucks."

Economists expect inflation will cool off in the second half — especially if car prices start to revert to normality.

xwesx

henryn said:

Economists expect inflation will cool off in the second half — especially if car prices start to revert to normality.

It shocks me how little inflation that is (3.8%) compared to the price increases of basically EVERYTHING a person can buy right now. I wonder how they end up computing this.

Granted, 3.8% is a huge number compared to the numbers computed over the last many years, but it sure doesn't *feel* like 3.8% on my pocket....

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

Video on the whole 3rd party sales issue. They get most everything but missed 2 key points. One is the need to pay sales tax, eating into profits. The other is, you can still walk in and sell at any time. Just have to go to a branded dealer. So can at least play those off each other!

The old guy makes the good point, which is this is a fluke situation that likely won’t last long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAkWpU1ekf8

Those guys were predicting that the market would be back to normal by December of last year.

henryn

I find it interesting that the mainstream media and news sources are starting to pay attention to what has happened to the new and used car market. For the longest time they were basically ignoring the whole thing.

stickguy

Acura continues to be the cheap to own "premium" brand. Just got another coupon from my dealer. Oil/filter change, tire rotation, MPI with report, and new wiper blade inserts for $69. The VW dealer wanted $200+ for that. I'm sure BMW or MB would too.

qbrozen

jeep is back in limbo. Carrier's truck broke down before he picked it up. SIGH!

Sandman6472

That Corolla I bought in 1997 was in fact a 1996 DX model, I looked back at my post and had 1996 in one place and 1966 in another, thus the confusion. I guess folks really do read my posts after all.
Stick, I think the Corolla Cross will just fit on my side of the garage, heck, the 2006 Honda Civic fit and guessing they're both about the same length. And if it does, could be hard to pass up. I'd have to go with an XLE with the JBL audio package definitely and possibly a sun/moon roof. So,we'll have to wait & see.
Drove a Mini Cooper Countryman today and liked it, a lot! Not much turbo lag and liked the size. Only issue is the cost, they want just a crazy amount to get into one and not sure I can do that. A lease could work here. A real dark horse here to be honest.
And the last dark horse is the upcoming Chevy Bolt. Perfect size and having an EV at an affordable price could really work for me and my driving style currently. Still doing maybe 50 miles/week, if that, so one with a 300 mile range could definitely work. They need to bring the price down to around $26K using any government rebate or whatever...the price needs to be affordable for average folks like myself.
As of now, the Corolla Cross is the front runner as I've always liked Toyota products so I could be very very happy with another one. Not sure if being an employee will get me any price reduction but will inquire if things go in that direction. And then will also look into leasing one as my low tolerance for any vehicular issues would end these for me.
And lastly, the coolant light came on in the Audi this morning. The folks at the Audi store put more coolant in and the light went out. So, looking like we'll be getting with the mechanic sooner than later here and just finding/fixing the issue. Checked our records and it's still the original coolant in there so will have this taken care of soon enough.

stickguy

Sandy, from your description of the color, most likely that drip was coolant so not surprised you got the low level light. Just putting more in without figuring out where it is leaking is likely going to end poorly!

I still say you should go to the Hyundai store and look at a Kona. the new limited has the zippy 1.6t engine, all the safety and fun goodies, a perfect ride height, very comfy power seat, and this year comes standard with FWD for a sticker right around $29k. The hatch you like, and only 166" Basically very close to a countryman I think but with Hyundai cheap to keep and long warranty (and price).

Hey, my wife really liked it, and she almost never likes interesting stuff like that!

roadburner

With the crazy M2C prices I'm back to considering a 2021 Supra 3.0 as well as the G42 M240i. Funny thing, the European magazines prefer the M2C over the Supra, while the US mags give the nod to the Supra. I wish I could spend an afternoon behind the wheel of both, but that's not happening. I'm still kind of surprised that my wife and son like the M2C best; I thought for sure my son would go for the Supra.

stickguy

does the emergency use only back seat matter at all to you?

The BMW just looks less "hokey" to me. More mature? something like that.

though a guy in my neighborhood has a red supra now, and it is sharp looking if that is what you are looking for.

Sandman6472

The Kona could definitely work but I have to hold off until the Corolla Cross and the new Bolt come out. I need to test them both before I make such a big decision. I don't want another Tucson kind of faux pas and without testing everything, I'll always wonder. Just best to wait until years end when both should be in the showrooms and hopefully there will be some more realistic asking prices. As long as the Golf behaves, we're good and since I'd like to jump the last week of this year, timing could work for me. Making the wrong decision here would be very hard to deal with and won't put myself in that position again.
And am pushing for the A3 to be checked/repaired asap but it's not really up to me when it gets done. All I can do is suggest and see what happens. She already knows how I feel about letting things wait too long on our vehicles. It's not going anywhere so best to get this issue fixed and throw on some new tires and be done with it all. Think with these couple things corrected, we should be good for the next year or so. And since she/we really like the A3, makes perfect sense to me.